Description
By: Paul Kenny .
Charles Amherst Villiers was born into the British aristocracy, a scion of the houses of Clarendon, Marlborough and Wimborne. By applying lessons learned in the famous workshops of Oundle School, he came to play a key role in pre-war British motor sport, supercharging the Blower Bentley that did battle with Mercedes at Le Mans, and designing Malcolm Campbell's first land speed record-breaking Bluebird.
A switch into aeronautic engineering culminated in an audacious design for a six-engine, double-decker, transatlantic aircraft, before Villiers moved to the US to devote himself to rocketry, designing the gyroscope that helped win his company contracts for Poseidon and Polaris, and advising on the optimal route for Man to journey to Mars.
This remarkable Renaissance Man was also a gifted artist, studying under portrait painter Pietro Annigoni in Florence, and painting subjects as varied as Pope John Paul II, racing driver Graham Hill and James Bond writer Ian Fleming. Indeed, Fleming was so engaged with his friend that 007's 'only hobby' was a Blower Bentley, and Villiers was asked to provide the initial design drawings for ChittyChitty-Bang-Bang.
At an age when most men retire, Villiers returned to front-line motor racing, advising on the engine that propelled Graham Hill to his first World Championship. His revolutionary Grand Prix engine design a decade later was only aborted by Hill's fatal air accident.
Paul Kenny has taken each strand of Villiers' extraordinary life, and the character traits that prevented him from attaining true greatness, and woven them into an enthralling tale.
